Shortbus is primarily significant for the exact reason I feared the most: it proves that director John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch was an accident. That shouldn’t be surprising: Hedwig was a gift-wrapped present of stylistic possibilities. Still, that style came from somewhere in the filmmaker’s mind, and it’s shocking – nay, it […]
It is possible though rare for a film to be too generous. Certainly, it never happens in Hollywood, where warmth and humanity are marketing tools; but there is such a thing as a genuine and heartfelt and human motion picture that, without ever lapsing into cloying sentimentality, manages to be so loving to its characters […]
Author’s note: I’ve neither watched nor thought about this film in an extremely long time, and I cannot imagine agreeing with much any of this review, particularly the star rating. But, hey, leaving it up for historical interest. Sometimes, everything just clicks. The script, the direction, the cinematography, the mise en scène and the acting, […]
The Zero Years is a fucked-up movie. I recognize that “fucked-up” is not a recognized term in film criticism, so I should probably elaborate on that a little. The opening: black screen. After a moment, there is a deep synthesized bass note. Pause. Another. Pause. The score expands a little without moving out of the […]
The hype is right about one thing: The Departed is certainly a return to form for Martin Scorsese. There is however a difference between returning to form and returning to peak form, and this is where the remake of the much-superior Infernal Affairs can’t quite justify all its praise: it is stylish and fun, but […]
I have not seen nearly as much of the work of director Kim Ki-duk as I would like, and what I have seen, though brilliant, is not usually regarded as “typical.” Therefore I don’t know whether Time is more of a return to form, or a fall from grace; it is certainly not subtle in […]
I try not to judge movies based on what I want them to be (in which I often fail), nor on my moral opinion of their content (in which I fail even more often). But I’m not in the least bit ashamed to confess that if a film is going to show a graphic rape […]
There will be those who deride Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Syndromes and a Century as pretentious and overly-artsy. Luckily, I am also pretentious and overly-artsy, and therefore I adored it. Apichatpong’s parents were both doctors, and this film is his tribute to them. It is accordingly divided into a feminine and a masculine half: the first part, […]
This conversation really happened: “What movie did you just see?” “Comedy of Power.” “Oh, was it funny?” “Yeah, it was a light comedy.” “Was it a romantic comedy?” “No, it was about a judge, sort of like we have district attorneys, who’s assigned to investigate a massively corrupt company kind of like Enron, and how […]
In the beginning: a bird’s eye view of marshland. Ancient, untouched swamp – preparing us for an Epic Myth, it seems, and this is confirmed by the first words of the Storyteller (David Gulpilil): “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away…” And then, the Storyteller starts to laugh at his own profundity, […]
In 1976, a 23-year-old German woman named Anneliese Michel who had been treated for psychotic episodes died of starvation following an attempted exorcism. The attending priests and her parents were both convicted of manslaughter. This story was turned into two movies in the last two years: the first was the American The Exorcism of Emily […]
All praise be to Eric Steel, whose new film The Bridge has the bravery to propose that people who commit suicide are emotionally unstable. Is that flippant? Yes, it’s flippant. But how else to respond to a film that shows an hour and a half of people talking about how depressed their loved ones were, […]
